Computer users commonly have one device, herein called a client device, such as a notebook or tablet computer, which connects to a computer network such as the Internet through another device, herein called the access point device, such a mobile phone. Such a shared connection is commonly called “tethering,” “Internet sharing,” or a “personal hotspot.” The access point device is used by the client device as a router to access the Internet. A specific example implementation is a computer with a Wi-Fi link connected to a mobile phone with a 4G connection to the Internet.
Typically, setting up a tethered connection involves several steps, such as enabling tethering on an access point device that is connected to a network, establishing a connection between the access point device and a client device, and then enabling the client device to communicate over the network connection of the access point device. A proper disconnection upon termination of tethering also is desirable, and takes several steps. While some of these steps can be automated, in such implementations the access point device has a wireless connection that is powered on even when it is not in use, which can drain power from the battery of the access point device.
Such connections generally share bandwidth equally among the different devices. Such sharing generally does not consider actual data usage by the devices, total data usage and costs of the client device accessing the network through the access point device.